GREENFIELD — Clutching stuffed animals they’d just won on the midway, 8-year-old Quinn Gordon and her sister Lea, 5, chowed down on hot buttered corn on the cob at the Hancock County 4-H Fair.
Their dad, Brian Gordon, took them on opening night this year.
“They were so excited about coming today. They were really bummed when it was canceled last year,” said Gordon, who lives in Greenfield.
The girls were not alone. Many fair-goers mentioned how much they had missed the county fair, which was closed to visitors last year due to COVID-19.
Bryan Arms and his family live near the fairgrounds and had watched with anticipation as carnival rides were erected and livestock was unloaded in preparation for the fair, which opened Friday, June 18, and runs through Friday, June 25, at the Hancock County 4-H Fairgrounds.
“We’ve been waiting for the fair all year,” said his wife, Andrea Arms, as their son, Paxton, 11, and daughter Elliot, 8, held tight to the prizes they’d just won playing games there.
“This is pretty cool,” said Paxton, showing off the framed Avengers poster he had won by knocking down some pins at an attraction on the midway.
His dad walked along behind his kids toting some of their winnings, with an oversized inflatable hammer tucked under one arm and an inflatable baseball bat under the other. His sister sipped on lemonade as the family headed into the exhibit hall, to cool off in the air-conditioning while checking out the 4-H projects on display there.
Mia Brooks and her friend, Gracie Foster, breezed by the exhibit hall on their way to check out the animals in the livestock barns, as Mia snacked on a funnel cake along the way.
The 11-year-olds planned to buy wristbands to ride unlimited rides on the midway, after enjoying some fair food and checking out the animals in the barns.
“We wanted to be here on opening night so we could check everything out,” said Foster, who lives in Greenfield.
Plenty of families and groups of friends seemed intent on trying out some of their fair favorites, some of whom had waited since the last fair in 2019 to get their fix.
“I get a bag of this every year,” said one man, patting the hefty bag of kettle corn tucked under his arm, as his wife enjoyed a corndog doused in ketchup. The couple had come out for dinner Friday night before the storms rolled through.
“The fair food is why we come to the fair,” said the kettle corn fan, who had just enjoyed a chicken shishkabob, the same snack he enjoys each year at the fair.
Gordon knew his daughters were looking forward to savoring some fair food as much as they were riding some rides at the fair. The girls rode three different rides with their dad, including the swings, which swirl riders around above the midway, then played a few games before sitting down to enjoy their corn on the cob.
“After this we’ve got cotton candy for dessert,” Quinn exclaimed, grinning happily as the butter dripped down her chin.
